Wheelie, very thoughtful post on the issues. Only a few thoughts you might consider:

I began my trip with hard panniers and used them for about a year. Then transitioned to soft panniers in Colombia for the next 2 years. No question I preferred the soft panniers!

I know security of hard vs soft panniers is a common point of contention but I take a completely different view point:

Outside of the USA, Canada and West Europe (and likely a few other locations I have not visited), secure parking is generally easy: At night, my bike is inside the hotel/hostel. During the day it is in front of a security guard or in front of the shop I am inside. No security worries. This works because those countries generally realize the importance of security and are flexible about motorcycles in order to provide that security. Borders are the same: I would simply park right in front of the security guards.

Another route to security to keep in mind: A big shiny expensive bike (The big KTM, BMW, etc. bikes) will draw attention while a smaller bike that is not so pretty is likely to be overlooked even if it is still big and expensive by local standards.

The only time in 3 years I wanted more security was in west Europe where secure parking got very expensive and was often nowhere near my intended destination.

Security aside .... hard bags are a sometimes bit more convenient for loading and unloading, or accessing one item. Soft bags were always more convenient when riding.

Of course, I also am focused on dirt riding. I sought out every dirt road I could find and quickly found hard bags a horrible experience. Yes, there are many paved roads on an RTW trip yet I still spent a remarkable amount of time on dirt. So I might be biased.....

Good luck making a decisions!

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Traveling The World Since: 2011
Blog: The Seductive Life (General Travel)

Mollydog, to answer your questions, my Nelson-Rigg bags are the "Adventure Dry-Survivor Edition" (there's a mouthful) model and have stiffener panels only in back. The material has the look of welded pvc (I could be wrong about that) but in any event is somewhat grippy and resistant to easily receiving a bulky inner bag into which stuff has expansively settled towards the bottom.


My Givi cases are plastic and hold only, I believe, 21 litres which is truly, non adventurously dinky.

OK, now I see. You have the now discontinued "Survivor" version. I have the newer Sierra 3050 ADV ones. I think N/R made a few improvements to the Sierra. It's getting good reviews.

I'll let you know how they work out for me and how it goes installing the Inner Bag.

Your new GIVI's sound like a good size.

If you were to decide on using soft panniers you should have a look at a Scottish company called LOMO.
Soft panniers that are getting amazing reviews for £50 ish. Seriously good value and as tough as hell.
I use LOMO and have used there bags for offshore work and for traveling on the bike, they are amazing value and amazing quality.

And No, I don`t work for them lol

I've been running the AS Magadans on my 701 for two years and would buy both units again.

Love the simplicity 'no thrills approach' of the Magadans, the toughness (i've hit them against lots of trees and stones), the self-adjustability of the bags to conform to any size load and the built in dampning effect.

This promo video by Lyndon who has ridden around the world sold me on the panniers and the 690 engine as reliable adventure products.

I use a pannier rack with my panniers.

I referenced this review by Lyndon before buying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNxmdaszbY4

HTH

Riel

Many here followed Walter Colebatch's Sibirsky rides for years. He developed those Magadan bags on his rides and has done a great promo job selling them.

I think he now has a lot of competition from firms like Mosko Moto, Kriega, Giant Loop and others. Adventure gear is now big business. $$$$

I would not buy any of the above brands ... due mostly to price.

Both Adv spec Magadan and MoskoMoto bags cost between $700 and $900 for the set, IIRC. (may have gone up in price by now?) If I were planning to spend the next 20 years living off my bike (and out of those bags) traveling (I wish!) then perhaps I could justify spending upwards of the 1000 USD on panniers.

But my Nelson-Rigg panniers only need last a couple years ... and based on prior experience with 3 previous sets, I'd say they'll make it fine with years to spare. My last ones I just sold off were still perfect after 5 years and 4 major trips.

My new (not yet received them) Nelson-Rigg 3050 Sierra Adventure dry bags are now on sale for $156 USD. It they turn out to be total crap ... it's not a huge loss and I'm positive I can re-sell them for $100 at least. But I'm confident they will work OK.

I know Nelson-Rigg gear is made in China ... and I would BET all the other expensive brands are too.

Differences? There probably are some, but it's mostly about "prestige branding" and more money into the pockets of the owners of those trendy companies who run HUGE mark-ups.

But it's good to see innovation in this segment, but not sure all these so called "new" designs are in any way ground breaking, and some features may have them "going backwards" Just IMHO.

But please, "carry on" to those who want to spend that much money on simple canvas bags made in China at $25 per set. MASSIVE mark ups and huge profits is what I see.

Some low cost bags are real crap, some are adequate ... like those Scottish ones mentioned a page back. (pics, web site would be nice) Bike panniers are not rocket science ... those Mosko's and Magadan's are overpriced.

LOMO throw over panniers (launched a few weeks ago) - https://www.lomo.co.uk/acatalog/wate...niers-set.html

If anyone's bought a set I'd be interested in hearing your opinion. At £50 they're cheap enough to 'buy to try' and I was toying with doing just that but a quick trawl through the attic space in my garage the other day threw up a number of (mostly army surplus) previous 'didn't make the grade but was a good idea at the time' pannier 'projects' so, not wanting to add to the pile, I'm holding back at the moment.

In general LOMO stuff is pretty robust and (in my experience) water resistant but can lack much of the sophistication that you get with the big name soft bags (welded PVC vs Cordura for example). But, then again, it's a lot cheaper. Whether this is just a test the waters Mk1 release with the next generation upgraded version coming out after they've digested the complaints or whether they've nailed it first time round is really what I'm wondering.